A battered suitcase filled with memorabilia from the first world war found lying at the back of a cupboard in the psychology department of a university.

It was an intriguing but puzzling discovery: an old battered suitcase filled with memorabilia from the first world war lying at the back of a cupboard in the psychology department of a university.

The contents were fascinating and revealed fragments of someone's life from more than a century ago. They included a diary, old faded photos, an autograph book with messages from German prisoners of war and a signed photograph of Queen Mary.

The mysterious leather suitcase was discovered by sheer chance as staff cleared out a cupboard in a room at the University of Abertay in Dundee. Inquiries have since revealed that the case belonged to a nurse from Paisley called Margaret Maule who tended wounded German soldiers at Dartford War Hospital in Kent. Margaret also nursed British soldiers at the Shakespeare Hospital in Glasgow and later trained to qualify as a Queen's Nurse in Greenock.

But how and why her personal items ended up in Dundee is a complete mystery and the university has issued an appeal for information.

Robin Ion, head of Abertay's nursing and counselling division, said: "There's no record of her ever having been to Abertay. All we know about her is what we've been able to piece together from the things we found in her suitcase. It contains documents dating back to 1914, including her diary and an article she wrote for a newspaper called the People's Journal."

Margaret's diary revealed that she initially had misgivings about treating German prisoners of war, but words of thanks in an autograph book showed the gratitude of those men in her care.

One German soldier wrote:

Were we enemies? How could we be? After the tender mercy's deed you bestowed upon me. With heartfelt thanks.

Another said:

Always good and friendly. Your [sic] did your duty to us also. Prisoners of war. I shall take this to my native country as a good souvenir. From a gratefully [sic] POW. Griesling.

But the suitcase revealed that not all Margaret's war experiences had been positive. A newspaper cutting from the now defunct People's Journal flashed the headline: "Threatened by Prussian I tended," alongside a picture of the Scots nurse wearing spectacles.

A newspaper cutting found in a battered suitcase filled with memorabilia from the first world war discovered lying at the back of a cupboard in the psychology department of a university.

Ion said:

We know that her brother had been killed in action and that she was desperate to do her bit for the war effort. So it came as a shock when she learnt she was to be sent to Dartford to care for prisoners of war. However, the fact that she managed to carry out her duties in spite of her misgivings, and that she did so in such a way that her patients went to the trouble of crafting gifts for her to show their appreciation, indicates that she was one of the best.